This year Fortress Technology celebrates the 10 year anniversary of their “Phantom” range of industrial metal detectors. The success and longevity of the Phantom model has enabled the company to grow and expand in a competitive and long established market.
The actual physics of metal detection limits the ability to fundamentally change the design, and the fact that there are no real wear parts means metal detection systems can last for decades. As a result the second hand market has been the source of detectors for many small start-up companies.
Having gone though the painful, and costly, task of developing a new product and selling it to a major retailer means the news that “it must of course be metal free” is yet another financial burden that any new enterprise can do without. After all it’s just another piece of equipment that needs to be bought and maintained yet has no direct benefit for the product being produced. On the face of it, it’s easy to see why to buy cheap can seem the best option, and an auction house their next port of call.
However “few companies really want cheap, what they do want is good value for money” says Sarah Ketchin Managing Director of Banbury based Fortress Technology. “What we at Fortress believe in is to give customers the best return on investment by providing the lowest cost of ownership”.
Fortress recognises that while the basics of metal detection have not changed, many of the peripheral requirements which are associated with the product have moved forward, and continue to do so. These demands include. but are not limited to;
Changes in the retailers’ standard and expectations: Complete systems must incorporate all the available fail safes to ensure potentially contaminated product does not leave the factory. Requiring additional sensors, alarms and early warning systems to be configured and monitored.
Marketing demands: Metallised films for making products look more attractive to the consumer, or extending shelf life need to be compensated for. The aluminum content will affect the inspection capability for that particular product but if that is only one of a range the detector must provide flexibility to give the best performance on all products.
Statistical Reporting: With companies having to watch their efficiency levels and keep costs down management and data collection systems have become common place. With metal detectors positioned at the end of the line after all the costs have been incurred they can provide vital information about efficiency and production. In addition to the production requirements, valuable maintenance and set-up reporting can ensure the fastest recovery time in the event of failures.
“Buying a system and then being told 6, 12 or 18 months down the road that is not capable of satisfying these changing demands is not what customers want to hear” says Sarah. “For some small businesses the metal detector has been their major outlay and to find it’s no longer suitable and must be replaced is a very bitter pill to swallow”.
By designing a core architecture that just flat out works Fortress have been able to continually evolve the Phantom range. In doing so the detectors produced 10 years ago can still be serviced and upgraded and with a plug-and-play design to satisfy new and updated functionality. With compatibility in design and consideration of service needs the units provide full backward compatibility and minimise the spare parts requirement. So avoiding the embarrassing scenario of telling the customer that they are using something that is now non serviceable or obsolete and must be replaced.
The latest in the current range of Phantom models include touch screen technology, and USB port for data collection on demand. While all these features won’t make the metal detector find metal any easier, they can provide some additional cost benefit to the user. What Fortress believes to be most important, is that such developments can be easily incorporated into a proven design which provides rugged performance and reliability on the production line environment day after day. |